This invention relates to a transportation system, and method of constructing same, in which a plurality of vehicles travel along two spaced, parallel guide ways.
Public transportation systems, including monorail systems, two-track systems, magnetic levitation systems, etc., are becoming increasingly important as the population of urban areas continues to grow and automobile fuel prices continue to rise. It is important that public transportation systems be economically feasible, yet be large enough to transport a substantial amount of people yet maintain their stability during all operating conditions.
According to most prior designs, a vehicle, or series of interconnected vehicles, move over a track, or guide way, and the design is such that the center of gravity of each vehicle, even when it is loaded with passengers, baggage, etc., and subjected to external dynamic forces, is located within an area defined within the track or guide way to insure that the vehicle maintains adequate stability during all operating conditions. Therefore, in these arrangements, the width of each vehicle, and therefore its capacity, must be kept at relatively low values, which severely restricts the load or passenger-carrying ability of the vehicle.
Applicant's co-pending application Ser. No. 11/086,938, filed Mar. 22, 2005, addresses this problem by disclosing a vehicle that has a center of gravity that is laterally spaced from the tracks on a guide way. A range of possible locations of the center of gravity in both the longitudinal and lateral directions of the vehicle can be established thus enabling the vehicles to be designed with a much greater width, and therefore capacity, when compared to standard systems. The disclosure of this application is incorporated by reference.
The present application represents a further improvement of the rail transportation system disclosed in the above application, by providing two parallel guide ways, each of which is adapted to accommodate one or more vehicles while absorbing torque generated by the above offset location of the center of gravity of the vehicles.